Archive for the 'Contests' Category
Release Day, and a Contest
Release Day is finally here! The Curse of Culcraig is out. And to celebrate I’m giving away a copy. Just leave a comment and I’ll draw a name. Easy, right? Since today is Friday, I’ll announce the winner on Monday.
In the meantime here is a new excerpt. I hope you’ll enjoy.
He rose and stood next to her while adding
cream and sugar to his coffee. She ignored his
suggestion to sit down—not that he was
surprised—returned the cream to the fridge
instead and brushed against his back as she did. A
shimmer of unseen energy tingled over his skin. He
turned and caught her hand to stop her from
moving away.
Her eyes went wide and dark like a forest lake.
He could have drowned in them. Her soft, powdery
scent with the barest hint of floral wrapped around
him, teasing his senses. He wanted to kiss her. To
press his mouth to her full, parted lips. To taste
her. She’d intrigued him from the start, and
wanting her had gnawed dully at the back of his
brain for days.
But having her this close, so that he could feel
her body’s heat mingling with his own…
The thud of the cream hitting the floor jarred
him from him his thoughts. He glanced down as
thick, white liquid glugged out over the stone slab.
“Damn it,” Hillary muttered, squatting and
righting the carton. “I’m not usually so clumsy.”
He snatched a dishtowel from the counter,
hunkered down beside her and started mopping
up the mess. “It doesnae matter.”
“The stone is porous.” She stood and soaked a
cloth at the sink, then returned to his side. “If the
cream soaks in, it’ll stink.”
He snorted. “What’s a wee bit of soured cream
compared to the usual dank, musty stink of the
place?”
She smiled, but didn’t look up from mess she
was wiping. Her hair fell across the delicate lines of
her jaw and cheekbone. His fingers itched to push
the silky strands away. Despite the benign
conversation, the tension from a few minutes ago
thickened rather than abated. He forced his gaze
back to the mess on the floor.
“That should be good enough,” she said, sitting
back on her haunches and eyeing the dark spot on
the stone. The faint jagged line of the scar on her
hand peeked out from the cloth, drawing his
attention. He’d noticed it before, and noticed the
way she shut down when he drew attention to the
mark.
As she stood, he did likewise, gripping her
hand once more. He took the wet towels from her
and tossed them into the sink, but didn’t release
her. Instead, he ran his thumb over the hardened
flesh marring her palm. Her hand fisted instantly.
“What happened?” he asked, lifting his gaze to
her wide, dark eyes. They looked huge against the
paleness of her skin.
“I cut it. Not a big deal.” A soft rasp edged her
voice.
“How? It looks like it was bad.”
She didn’t answer, but tried to tug free of his
grip. Instead of letting her go, he pulled her closer,
then, as though it were the most natural thing in
the world, he lowered his head and brushed his
lips over hers.
Posted by Dawn Brown @
1:58 pm |
Blogging, Contests and WIPs…Oh MY
Last week I was reading a post at Fiction Groupie (which is fast becoming a favorite for me to read) about blogging, and I realized I’ve become rather lax about blogging regularly. Since the summer, I sort of fell off the whole posting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday wagon. So today, I’m getting back on.
In other news, the contest at my editor’s blog starts today. The prize is a Kindle preloaded with with some great books, including Living Lies by yours truly. To enter, all you have to do is answer the scavenger hunt question and email your answer. I’m scheduled for the 25th.
I ordered my author copies of The Curse of Culcraig last week. The book should be available for pre-order very soon. I will certainly keep you posted.
The NaNo WIP continues to move well. By Friday, I’d hit over 29K putting me well ahead of schedule. Last week, I even got some work done on Blood and Bone which was good. Three chapters and an epilogue left. I’ll be so glad when it’s done.
Off to work now. See you Wednesday. 
Mood: Good
Posted by Dawn Brown @
1:09 pm |
Contest Winner and…Another Contest!
First off, thanks everyone who participated and for all your kind words. I really appreciate it!!
Okay, the winner is…Val Pearson. Congratulations Val!! Send me an email and we’ll work out all the shipping details.
But wait…there’s more!
My wonderful editor, Tera, is posting an interview and the first chapter of Living Lies on her blog, and giving away an ecopy. All you have to do is leave a comment and she’ll draw a name. Good luck!!!
Posted by Dawn Brown @
11:15 am |
Contest!
Good morning!! So to celebrate the print release of my first book, I’m giving away a free signed copy. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. I’ll draw a name and announce the winner first thing tomorrow morning.
Easy, right? And who doesn’t like free stuff?! 
In the meantime, here’s another excerpt…
Living Lies
Copyright © 2008 Dawn Brown
Haley left Dean at his car across the street from her store then started home. The name Sandra still played through her brain. Why did it sound so familiar? Where had she heard it before?
Absently, she nibbled at the corner of her lip. The only thing more perplexing than the name tickling her memory was her uneasy alliance with Dean. Who would have guessed he would become a strange sort of ally in all this? Ally or not, Sandra wasn’t a whole lot to go on, for either of them.
She pulled into her driveway and got out of the car. Her muscles had stiffened from the long drive and an air of defeat seemed to have settled over her. Maybe after she ate something she’d feel better.
She followed the narrow cement walk to her doorstep, digging for her keys in her purse. They jingled maddeningly just out of reach as she searched blindly, through the receipts, gum wrappers and ATM statements. She needed to clean this crap out.
At last her fingers closed over the cold metal, but as she reached out to push the key into the lock she realized she didn’t need it. The door stood open. Barely a quarter of an inch, but open just the same.
Her heart rate tripled as she pushed the door the rest of the way, fisting her keys in her other hand so that each one stuck out between her knuckles. A vague recollection from a self-defense class in high school phys-ed.
Maybe she should call the police. She shook her head as if answering herself. What if she just hadn’t closed the door properly when she left that morning? She’d look like an idiot.
From the small front hall, the pale kitchen light spilled into the living room. Had she left that light on this morning? She struggled to remember, but came up empty as she ran her hand over the switches for the light overhead and the lamp next to the couch.
Nothing moved, or seemed out of place in the sudden brightness. The house was silent except for the familiar tick of the furnace and the ever-present hum of the refrigerator. She stepped farther into the house, half expecting someone to jump out at her from the dining room, but no one did.
With her heart pounding in her ears, she went into the kitchen. Everything was as she left it. From the dregs of coffee still in the pot, to the mug, plate and knife on the counter, to the crumbs next to the toaster. But then, what had she expected? That an intruder would break in and tidy her kitchen?
She considered grabbing one of the serrated knives from the wooden block on the counter, but rolled her eyes at her own foolishness. She’d probably forgotten to turn off the light in the kitchen this morning. God knew she’d been a touch preoccupied lately. The door probably hadn’t closed properly behind her when she’d left for work. And the only reason she was climbing the stairs to make sure everything was how she left it was simply for her own peace of mind. Just so she could say “I told you so” to her overactive imagination.
Her breath locked in her throat as she reached the small hallway at the top of the stairs. Soft, pale light flickered through the narrow gap between the wall and her partially closed bedroom door. With feet that felt as if they were made of stone, she dragged herself forward and pushed open the door with one trembling hand.
Her stomach dropped and a strange sound escaped her lips, something between a whimper and a gasp. The room glowed as if on fire. Candles of every shape and color flickered on her dresser, vanity, and on the floor surrounding the bed. Someone had pulled back the bedspread as if in invitation and scattered dark red rose petals across the sheets.
She covered her gaping mouth with her hand and took a step back. Who could have done this? And more importantly why?
A dull thump from below made her freeze where she stood. Someone was in the house. She should have brought the knife.
Posted by Dawn Brown @
1:57 pm |
Another Monday
I don’t know what the weather’s like where you are, but here it’s shaping up to be a gorgeous day and I’m in a great mood.
First, all bookkeeping tasks are finished. Woohoo!! And after careful consideration, I have decided to pass on that particular baton. Aside from not enjoying the work, as the business grew so did the amount of time I had to spend doing the books. Bookkeeping was eating into family and writing time, and I just couldn’t keep all the balls in the air. Now that I’ve made the decision, I can’t tell you what a huge relief it is.
The WIP is coming along well. Changing the hero has meant going back to the beginning and reworking a lot of stuff, but I’ve done about 12K so far. Also I can get back to Blood and Bone and finally get that done. Yay!!
Living Lies is out in print tomorrow. Wednesday I’ll be having a contest and giving away a free signed copy so be sure to check back.
Also, my editor at Samhain is running a contest over on her blog. From today until May 10 she’s interviewing her authors and giving away a free ebook. All you have to do is leave a comment and you’re entered to win. Cool, huh? My day is Thursday.
Mood: Excellent
Music: I Alone, Live
Posted by Dawn Brown @
12:50 pm |
The Right Man For The Job
So now that I’m taking my own advice, I’m hard at work once more on The Devil’s Eye. As I was reading through what I’d written so far, I found I liked the story for the most part. The setting, while challenging, works well with the external conflict. The heroine’s internal conflict was being challenged by all the characters except one. The hero. In fact, he just wasn’t fitting into the story at all.
This was more than a little annoying for me. I liked him, but the chemistry I imagined between he and the heroine just wasn’t working. Actually he had better chemistry with another character in the story which got me thinking… But enough about that for now. All along I was also dealing with the issue that his involvement in the story at the same time as the heroine’s was simply too big of a coincidence. I had the wrong man for the job.
Then another character popped into my head practically fully formed. He fit into the story like a missing jigsaw piece. I’m having go through and rework scenes to suit him, but already the chemistry between him and my heroine is better. Such a relief.
And just a reminder about the scavenger hunt going on at the Samhellion. Today’s my day along with some other great writers. Check it out and win.
Music: I Saved the World Today – Eurythmics
Mood: Good
Posted by Dawn Brown @
12:17 pm |
Win a Copy of Living Lies
That’s right, it’s my day to post an excerpt. All you have to do is visit my editor’ s blog and leave a comment. Good Luck!!
Posted by Dawn Brown @
2:42 pm |
The Cold that Would Not Die
Progress has slowed some this week. I caught ds’s cold. I started coming down with it on Friday and wound up spending most of the weekend on the couch watching movies on T.V. And while I’m feeling better than I was, the cold is still lingering. Today, I’m stuffed up with a lovely sinus headache. These ridiculously frigid temperatures aren’t helping either. Okay, I’m starting to sound sulky. Enough of that. Advil should be kicking in soon and I’ll feel better.
WIP is at a standstill this week (I find it hard to concentrate when I’m sick) though rewrites on Blood and Bone are going well. Touch wood, but I’m really liking the way the story is moving and I love these characters. Given the hassles I’ve had with this story, I might have walked away from it ages ago if the characters didn’t have such a great chemistry.
Don’t forget to check out the contest at Tera Kleinfelter’s blog. All you have to do to win the daily prize is leave a comment. You’ll also be entered to win the grand prize which is full of really cool stuff.
Music: The Battle of Evermore, Led Zeppelin
Mood: Sick of being sick!
Posted by Dawn Brown @
4:15 pm |
Cool Contest and Other News
My editor at Samhain is putting together a Valentine’s themed contest on her blog featuring her authors. It sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun and there will be great prizes, e-books and a big grand prize. For details you can check out her blog, and I’ll be sure to keep you posted as I learn more.
The writing (crossing my fingers so I don’t jinx myself) is going fairly well. I’m actually seeing a significant dent in Blood and Bone and my word count for The Devil’s Eye has crept past 40K.
I had a my interview over the phone last week. I think it went fairly well. I did blank on my lead character’s name from The Curse of Clucraig. But I only ‘er’d’ and ‘um’d’ a couple of times before her name finally came to me. Oh, and the cat spilled my coffee all over my desk during the interview, right about the same time he was asking me if it’s glamorous being a writer. Snort! Pretty funny, huh?
Music: For No One – The Beatles
Mood: A little sleepy, actually.
Posted by Dawn Brown @
1:22 am |
December is Here
Only twenty-four days until Christmas.
We put the tree up this weekend and watched Christmas Vacation for the first of what will inevitably be many, many times. I even did a little Christmas baking on Sunday. I must admit, Christmas is my favorite holiday. For someone who is not terribly sentimental, this love of all things Christmas is an odd contradiction to the rest of my personality. (Or perhaps I’m more sentimental than I realize.)
So I wound up 8k away from my 50k Nano word goal. I know I said I was giving up, but I was still kind of hoping. Oh well, I did better than I thought was going at the beginning of last week. As to the quality of the writing… Like any first draft there are some good parts and some, well, rough parts. Sigh. That’s what rewrites are for. Today, I really noticed the characters are not well fleshed out. So I’m debating whether I’ll go back to earlier chapters and dig a little deeper, or just keep going forward and fix it on the rewrite. Hmm. Decisions, decisions.
I should finish up with Living Lies this week (hopefully, tomorrow) and I’m moving through edits for Curse fairly quickly.
And since I’m in such a Christmasy mood and Living Lies takes place at Christmas time, I’m thinking about putting together a contest. I’ll announce it next Monday so check back.
Mood: Happy.
Music: Winter Wonderland - Annie Lennox
Posted by Dawn Brown @
6:43 pm |
